US stocks open high on rising oil prices

New York, May 6 (IANS) US stocks opened high on Thursday as investors were encouraged by a strong rebound in oil prices.

Oil prices surged on Thursday, with both US oil and Brent crude jumping over four percent in early trading, as a huge wildfire near Canada’s oil sands reservoir raised concerns over a near-term supply shortage, Xinhua reported.

On the economic front, in the week ending April 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 274,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week’s unrevised number of 257,000, said the US Labour Department on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 258,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 256,000.

Meanwhile, investors also kept a close eye on Friday’s nonfarm jobs report for more clues on the Federal Reserve’s next rate hike.

Chinese shares open mixed Friday

Beijing, May 6 (IANS) Chinese stocks opened mixed on Friday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.02 percent to open at 2,998.4 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index opened 0.01 percent lower at 10,473.3 points. The ChiNext Index, tracking China’s NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, was up 0.11 percent to open at 2,226.44 points, Xinhua reported.